A Second Chance
by H0lLiieIzZaBeAstii3
Summary: Adryn's quiet life is turned upside down when her best friend and the love of her life is killed in a car accident, saving her. Then she meets Noah, who starts to bring back the pieces. But she's still haunted by her own memories .. Is Chance really dead?
1. Preface

Preface

Gaping, I stared at the sight before me. It was impossible. I _had _to be dreaming .. it was just .. _impossible_. Chance was .. dead. I had watched him die. I had seen the car accident .. I had stared in horror as the car hit him straight on. He had pushed me out of the way - had saved me. He had died because of me .. _For _me. He was dead. And yet ..

He was standing right in front of me. He was just as I remember but .. Different. Somehow. His already pale skin was now almost translucent, his eyes .. Those once perfect, deep blue eyes were now _crimson_. It just wasn't right. _I had to be dreaming_.

He was facing me, his new eyes .. pouring into mine. I stared back, unable to comprehend what was happening.

His face was blank of emotion - he wasn't the Chance I remember. The Chance I remembered .. _My _Chance, had always been smiling or laughing at something .. Even crying he'd had a little crinkle in the corner of his mouth - a small, ironic smile if nothing. This .. This _thing _standing in front of me was _not _Chance. It couldn't be. _Impossible_.

The boy, who was _not _Chance, stepped forward slightly, almost hesitantly. Something buried deep inside me told me to run, that there was danger. I ignored it.

His hand moved slowly out towards me but then dropped after a moment. He sighed. I bit my lip to hold in a cry. He had rolled his eyes up at the sky - seeming to be looking towards the heavens for help .. Chance had always done that.

His attention snapped back to me. Those eyes finally revealed something besides the emotionless from before. They were filled with such a deep sorrow that I suddenly felt a great pain in my heart, like it was ripping open all over again. His eyes .. They weren't Chance's .. But they were.

"Adryn."

Everything went black then.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

When I was young, I had only one friend. Chance Avery.

He had been the son of my father's best friend. We had known each other since birth, though up until eighth grade I had barely noticed him. His parents had gotten a divorce when we were seven and he had went to live with her. He came back, though, the summer I turned fourteen. I had barely any friends - just the people I tagged along with that didn't mind. He, on the other hand, was popular around my neighborhood - even if he hadn't seen anyone for over four years. Everyone knew who he was. Everyone wanted to be his friend. But he had chosen me. Out of everyone that could have been his best friend, he had chosen me.

It was a cool, June evening and I was sitting on the back porch, staring at the fence four yards away. I hadn't noticed when he came out the back door and sat in the seat beside me until he tapped my shoulder. Startled, I'd dropped my tea, spilling it all over myself and him.

"I'm so sorry. I'm such a klutz," I'd apologized, blushing and frantically trying to pick up the ice cubes. He'd only laughed.

"It's fine. Don't worry."

"No - I'm sorry. Um, here." I'd reached across his lap to grab another ice cube. He grabbed my hand.

"It's fine," he repeated, staring into my eyes. I just stopped and stared at him, noticing for the first time how perfect deep blue eyes were and how messily his ink black hair feel into his face.

"T-thanks."

"Haha. No problem," he's replied, getting up and holding out his hand. I had taken it and never looked back since then.

Until now.

I inhaled deeply, trying to keep from openingly sobbing. I couldn't think about this right now .. If I did then I'd only start crying. Right here. Right now. In the middle of Civics. I was already on thin ice with Mr. Davis, he didn't need another reason to send me away. It had been nearly four months ago and I still wasn't over it. I never would be .. Just like he would never come back ..

I clenched my mouth shut tight and turned my eyes to look at Sydney Ward, Chance's girlfriend. Or at least she used to be. She was snickering at the paper in front of her, writing something quickly and passing it behind her to a friend with her perfectly manicured nails.

Her and Chance had gone out for six months before the accident, getting together at a party towards the end of school last year. I hadn't been there. I hadn't even met Sydney until school one afternoon, when I had walked into the library to see them kissing. He'd only introduced us out of poiletness, but I could tell that he wanted me to leave. So I had. That was the only time I'd been within six feet of her.

I watched her now, though. She seemed to perfect. Bright blonde hair that always flipped the right way, light blue eyes the color of the sky, delicate, flawless skin, and the figure of a model. I could see why Chance had fallen for her, though that still didn't make me any the less hurt. Even now, almost a year after I had found out .. Almost four months after his _death, _I still couldn't even get over the fact that he had chosen me as his best friend, but her as his _girlfriend_.

But it didn't matter now.

I still watched her, though.

**x X x**

Sighing, I walked down the empty hallway, closing my eyes and letting my feet take the familiar path to the band room. I wasn't in band, but I was in there so much everyone thought I was. They had a piano .. I loved to play but couldn't ever since my grandmother moved to Washington D.C. - my piano had gone with her.

I had used to go every day during free period but had stopped when Chance died. This was my first time since then.

Walking down the hall, the only thing on my mind was the last time I had played for him. It had been a week before the accident, the last time I had truly been alone with him.

_I sat, back arched and fingers sitting gently on the old, worn keys._

"_Play me something," Chance's soft voice said, his lips close to my ears. I closed my eyes._

"_What would you like to hear?" I asked, poising my fingers on the keys._

"_Anything," his breath trinkeled in my ears, making my swallow dryly._

_I began, first the music soft and melodic before building up and becoming a frenzy of notes, dancing before my still closed eyes._

_The song finally ended and I peeked to look at him. My eyes were instantly met with Chance's, though, his face closed than I had expected. His pale complextion seemed to be glowing the sunlight, his eyes swirls of sky blue. He hadn't said a word, moved an inch, or even seemed to take a breath._

_Then slowly, almost hesitantly, he'd bent down and brushed his lips with mine, his fingers settling on top of mine, still poised on the keys._

I blew out a gust of air. I shouldn't, _couldn't_, think about these things right now. It was just too .. _hard_. I had loved him. More than anything else in the world. He hadn't known it. But I had. I still loved him. And this was all just too much to think about - especially in the middle of school.

**x X x**

Finally, and thankfully, I reached the doors to the band room and I quickly settled into my old pattern, nodding to Mr. Rodson as I passed his office and heading straight for the piano room. My room.

The notes floated around, hanging in mid air. They were clouds of light, barley visible. I didn't try to reach out and touch one - I just kept playing.

I had no clue what this song was .. It wasn't one I had ever played before. It was a soft, sad melody, almost dragging along. It was sad, but beautiful all the same.

"Adryn."

I slammed my hands on the keys, making the room vibrate and my ears hum. I exhaled loudly and turn around, unexpectedly foolish and thinking that just maybe ..

And saw that Noah Madison, a tall, lanky boy that I didn't know very well, though he only lived a few houses down from me, staring at me with an awed expression. The slight hope that I had crushed, but I put on a slight, fake smile for his sakes.

"Yes?" I asked, licking my lips and moving to set my hands in my lap.

"That was beautiful. What is it called - I've never heard it before."

"Um .. I don't know. It was just something that I was playing," I said honestly, letting my eyes roam over to the door behind him, where I desperately wanted to run out of.

"Oh."

He didn't say anything more, just stood there, scrutinizing me. I stared back, wondering what was so fascinating about me.

"Would you like to ride home with me?" he asked suddenly, disrupting the calm silence that had fallen over us. I looked at him. When I didn't respond he went on, almost nervously. "We could stop and get something to eat, if you want."

Was Noah Madison _asking me out_?

I stared at him in complete shock for a moment before finally regaining enough composer to answer him.

"Well .. I, uh .. "

"Go."

I stopped. The voice had come from beside my ear, a quiet whisper that sent shivers down my spine.

"Go." The voice said again. This time I knew it was him. It had to be.

But .. He wanted me to go? Go on a date with Noah Madison? But, _why_?

He said no more.

"Um, okay. Sure .. Just let me get my stuff," I stumbled, hastily grabbing my bag and throwing it over my shoulder.

Noah smiled. I stopped and looked at him for a moment. In the light he looked different, his slightly tan complextion seemed to glow, his chocolate brown eyes swirled with joy. I did a double take - I had never given Noah much thought but he was kind of .. cute. With adorable blonde curls that hung in his face slightly and a warm smile, he seemed like the kind of guy you would have known since you were a child, the boy next door, if you would.

I shook my head and continued on, walking out of the door in front of him, sensing how close behind he was. We didn't say anything but somehow him just being there was enough.

**x X x**

Noah stopped, idling outside of my house, on the street curb.

"Thanks," I said, opening the door and lifting my bag from my lap.

"You're welcome. Hey .. Um, would you like me to pick you up for school?" he asked sheepishly, glancing out of the windshield of his pickup, though I could see that he was watching me closely from the corner of his eye.

"Thanks," I said, stepping out and laying one foot on the ground. "That would be nice."

He flushed, his face turning a slight pink.

"Okay, I'll be here at seven thirty."

"Bye," I said, turning and walking up my drive.

"Bye!" he yelled out of my unrolled window.

I ignored him this time and after a moment he drove off, turning at another curb and then disappearing from my sight. I'm not sure why I had told him to pick me up. It was as big a mystery to me as why he had offered in the first place. I guess hanging out with him had just made me realize just how much I missed Chance. How much I missed talking to someone .. I hadn't realized how lonely I was until today.


End file.
